AN ACT to amend and reenact §21A-5-7 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, all relating to unemployment compensation
benefits; preventing contributory employers from being
relieved of benefit charges to their accounts if an
overpayment of benefits is the result of the employer's or an
employer’s agent’s failure to provide requested information to
the agency timely or to adequately; and providing definitions.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §21A-5-7 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 5. EMPLOYER COVERAGE AND RESPONSIBILITY.

§21A-5-7. Joint and separate accounts.

(1) The commissioner shall maintain a separate account for
each employer, and shall credit the employer's account with all
contributions of the employer in excess of four tenths of one
percent of taxable wages: Provided, That any adjustment made in any
employer's account after the computation date may not be used in
the computation of the balance of an employer until the next
following computation date: Provided, however, That nothing in this
chapter grants an employer or individual in his, her or its service
prior claims or rights to the amounts paid by him, her or its into
the fund, either on his, her or its behalf or on behalf of the
individuals. The account of any employer which has been inactive
for a period of four consecutive calendar years shall be terminated
for all purposes.

(2) Benefits paid to an eligible individual for regular and
extended total or partial unemployment beginning after the
effective date of this article shall be charged to the account of
the last employer with whom he or she has been employed as much as
thirty working days, whether or not the days are consecutive:
Provided, That no employer's account may be charged with benefits
paid to any individual who has been separated from a noncovered
employing unit in which he or she was employed as much as thirty
days, whether or not the days are consecutive: Provided, however,
That no employer’s account may be charged with more than fifty
percent of the benefits paid to an eligible individual as extended
benefits under the provisions of article six-a of this chapter:
Provided further, That state and local government employers shall
be charged with one hundred percent of the benefits paid to an
eligible individual as extended benefits. Benefits paid to an
individual are to be charged to the accounts of his or her
employers in the base period, the amount of the charges, chargeable
to the account of each employer, to be that portion of the total
benefits paid the individual as the wages paid him or her by the
employer in the base period are to the total wages paid him or her
during his or her base period for insured work by all his or her
employers in the base period. For the purposes of this section, no
base period employer’s account may be charged for benefits paid
under this chapter to a former employee, if the base period
employer furnishes separation information within fourteen days from
the date the notice was mailed or delivered, which results in a
disqualification under the provision set forth in subsection one,
section three, article six, or subsection two, section three,
article six of this chapter or would have resulted in a
disqualification under that subsection except for a subsequent
period of covered employment by another employing unit. Further,
no contributory base period employer’s experience rating account
may be charged for benefits paid under this chapter to an
individual who has been continuously employed by that employer on
a part-time basis, if the part-time employment continues while the
individual is separated from other employment and is otherwise
eligible for benefits. One half of extended benefits paid to an
individual are to be charged to the accounts of his or her
employers, except state and local government employers, in the base
period in the same manner provided for the charging of regular
benefits. The entire state share of extended benefits paid to an
individual shall be charged to the accounts of his or her base
period employers. The provisions of this section permitting the
noncharging of contributory employers’ accounts have no application
to benefit charges imposed upon reimbursable employers.

(3) The commissioner shall classify employers in accordance
with their actual experience in the payment of contributions on
their own behalf and with respect to benefits charged against their
accounts, with a view of fixing the contribution rates as will
reflect such experiences. For the purpose of fixing the
contribution rates for each calendar year, the books of the
department shall be closed on July 31 of the preceding calendar
year, and any contributions paid after that, as well as benefits
paid after that with respect to compensable weeks ending on or
before June 30 of the preceding calendar year, may not be taken
into account until the next annual date for fixing contribution
rates: Provided, That if an employer has failed to furnish to the
commissioner on or before July 31 of the preceding calendar year
the wage information for all past periods necessary for the
computation of the contribution rate, the employer's rate shall be,
if it is immediately prior to that July 31, less than three and
three-tenths percent, increased to three and three-tenths percent:
Provided, however, That any payment made or any information
necessary for the computation of a reduced rate furnished on or
before the termination of an extension of time for the payment or
reporting of information granted pursuant to a rule of the
commissioner authorizing an extension, shall be taken into account
for the purposes of fixing contribution rates: Provided further,
That when the time for filing any report or making any payment
required hereunder falls on Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday,
the due date is the next succeeding business day: And provided
further, That whenever, through mistake or inadvertence, erroneous
credits or charges are found to have been made to or against the
reserved account of any employer, the rate shall be adjusted as of
January 1 of the calendar year in which the mistake or inadvertence
is discovered, but payments, made under any rate assigned prior to
January 1 of that year, are not erroneously collected.

(4) The commissioner may prescribe rules for the
establishment, maintenance and dissolution of joint accounts by two
or more employers, and shall, in accordance with the rules and upon
application by two or more employers to establish a joint account,
or to merge their several individual accounts in a joint account,
maintain a joint account as if it is a single employer's account.

(5) State and local government employers may enter into joint
accounts and to maintain the joint account or accounts as if it or
they are a single employer’s account or accounts.

(6) Effective on and after July 1, 2012 if an employer has
failed to furnish to the commissioner on or before August 31 of
each year the wage information for all past periods necessary for
the computation of the contribution rate, the employer’s rate shall
be, if it is immediately prior to July 1, less than seven and five-tenths percent, increased to seven and five-tenths percent.

(7) Effective July 1, 2012, a contributory employer’s account
shall not be relieved of charges relating to a payment from the
Fund if the department determines that:

(A) The erroneous payment was made because the employer, or an
agent of the employer, was at fault for failing to respond timely
or adequately to the request of the agency for information relating
to the claim for compensation; and

(B) the employer or agent has established a pattern of failing
to respond timely or adequately to such requests.

(8) For purposes of this section:

(A) “Erroneous payment” means a payment that but for the
failure by the employer or the employer’s agent with respect to the
claim for unemployment compensation would not have been made.

(B) “Pattern of failing” means repeated documented failure on
the part of the employer or the agent of the employer to respond as
requested in this section, taking into consideration the number of
instances of failure in relation to the total volume of requests by
the agency to the employer or the employer’s agent as described in
this section.